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Somewhere inside me, mercy tried to reason with me. They weren’t infected, therefore they might still be able to understand the truth of their follies. Yet they never would, a few of the many who despised me across Quintrealm. They loathed my relationship with Paris, believed me to be weak and unworthy.

There would be no changing their minds.

The Heart of All shimmered to life, glowing scarlet on my chest through the tears in my black T-shirt. Its ruby fissures spread up my arms, aching with sorrow, revealing itself to them so they could see what I carried, how much I loved them.

“Please don’t do this,” I said. “Don’t let his lies destroy you.”

The vampires flinched from the source of their lifeforce, always at the mercy of it.

Neve licked at her fangs, her eyes wide with unease. “You’ve already done that, Majesty. Let us down. Hurt us. Showed us who you are by taking the enemy into your bed.” She clutched at her chest. “We feel how much you love him.” Her nostrils flared. “And it is disgusting.”

Anger and remorse sloshed together in my guts. I stared them down, drinking in their faces.

They had to die. No mercy, no more rebelling. Even if so many vampires died in Selene Haven, even if this already hurt me so deeply, I couldn’t suffer a rebel to live.

Not anymore.

“They are a virus against your rule,” Selene insisted. “Destroy them.”

And so, I took Bryan’s life first in a storm of speed and cold brutality. Punched my hand through his chest, taking hold of his heart and destroying it, leaving him a pile of crimson bone dust.

Next, I took out a woman called Zara who used to talk to me about chess for hours before Tilly got to her.

Screams, hissing, and a plea from Harold, who died next.

Three down, five to go. Neve, Royce, Jem, Milo, Pierre. They gathered in a line before a hole in the wall, cold air rushing through it. An escape route I wouldn’t allow them to use.

The Heart of All ached with terrible grief, strong enough to send pain into my skull, to even bring me to my knees as a weeping mess if I allowed it to.

Royce went to leave first. I killed him, claiming the lives of Jem, Milo and Pierre next. Searing agony, holes in the heart never to be filled. Their losses an eternal burden on my shoulders.

My poor vampires.

My people suffering again because of Aidan.

Because of me.

Neve ran.

My rage boiled, my pulse a war drum, eyes focused on the dark escape route. Listening to her make her escape, my heightened sense of hearing picked up on every sound she made.

I went after her, stalking through the darkness, almost reaching her before Paris burned brightly in my mind. A spark, a star, and in trouble.

Aidan…

Slowing to a halt, I focused on him, pinpointing his location in Oreflame City on Highwall Bridge.

I charged past Neve as she climbed a wall of rock to the surface, then paused at the top. Waiting. Unable to leave a loose end hanging.

She died quickly, without a word. The bone dust barely settled before I took to the sky, flying across the sea to save my elf.

I would process the painful consequences of the massacre later.

I’m so sorry.

I will mourn you forever.

Chapter Five